WEEK 13

Hello!  Are you as happy that last week is over as I am?  Phew!  It was for me, a frog and dog week!  Let's take a look at what I mean by that, OK?

First up on the frog list.......................the Sleeveheart Shawl.  Yup, it was not making me happy.  The material was too compact and the pattern was not making that gorgeous Alpaca sing.  So I pulled (Frogged) it all out and went in search of another pattern.  It only took me 3 days to find one that I thought would do the fiber justice.  Say hello to Pine Lake Shawl.

I am not 100% happy with it as of yet and may decide to start it again, but this time go up a needle size.  It is still a bit too tight for my liking.  I do love the pattern, though.  The Asymmetrical shawl is my favorite shape and this fits the bill on that part.  I had to laugh as the instructions say this is something you make in one weekend. Nothing I knit gets done in one weekend.  

Next on the frogging block..................................my "it really fits cardigan".  I finally decided to really try it on and not just one sleeve of it.  Oh My Goodness!!!!!!!  Hubby and I both could have fit into that thing!  I proceeded to unravel the entire sweater and started it again but this time going down a size in the hopes, it will be perfect this time.  I do like my sweaters oversized, but it was ridiculously HUGE.  So here is where I am at on the cardi now.

I do not think this will be completed by the time I go out of town in November.  Although, just by looking at it this time, it looks to be a better size than the last one.

My sock did not get unravelled..................well not all the way.  I picked it up one evening and found I had dropped a stitch about 4 rows back.  I was able to weave it in and started knitting again.  Then I found out I was off on my stitch count because I forgot to do a YO.  I was able to fix that without tinking back too.  Then I discovered I had dropped a stitch again in 2 different areas and was not able to weave them in as they were about 8 rows below where I was at.  Well, darn it!  I unraveled the entire 8 rows, picked up all the stitches that had been dropped and started back again.  Here is where I am at now.

I do love this pattern, Fawkes.  The reason I keep dropping stitches is...............There is one stitch in the 12 row repeat that calls for knit 3 together. Somehow, one of those three stitches misses my needle and BOOM...............dropped stitch.  I have been much more careful since the unravel party.  When I pick up the 3 stitches to knit, I give them a minor tug to make sure all 3 are on the needle.  Otherwise, this has been a great pattern to knit.  It is my carry along project.

Last but not least, my lace alpaca shawl has grown a tiny bit.

Working with a size 10.5US needle on slippery alpaca takes a bit of time and patience.  I really need to watch as I knit on this as the yarn is so thin it makes it very easy for a person to accidentally knit 2 stitches together.  Also, do any of you know how warm alpaca yarn is?  My hands are super warm working on this and I can only imagine how warm my lap will be when it gets long enough to lay on it.

So that ends my crafting news.  Now on to my other news about dogs.  First, I want you to know I love my dogs.  I really do.  They are cute and have been part of our family for almost 10 years.  They have their quirks though.  We think we have figured out what those quirks are and so we make sure not to leave anything around, when we are gone, that could make those quirks manifest.  Evidently hubby forgot that rule this week when he left to go to California. 

When a suitcase comes out, we have two dogs that get mighty nervous.  Even though they have a lovely dog sitter that comes to stay with them, they pull this guilt trip on us every time.  They sit and watch the suitcase get packed and sulk for hours.  This time, Hubby was the only one packing up and they seemed to be much better.  I did have to take him to the airport., I think they thought I had also left them.  When I came home, I prepared the house for our grand puppy to come over and spend some time with me and my fur babies.  While getting things ready I discovered this.

My dogs LOVE to chew plastic and ink pens are their specialty.  Hubby had left a pen by his side of the couch and when I left with him they had a blast with it.  There was ink on the couch (I did manage to remove it), on the floor and even on their paws.  Hubby has been grounded and I told him he is only allowed to have pencils now as they are much easier to clean up after.  (The dogs like wood too)

So, the grand puppy came over to play.  His owners had to go out of town for his mistress' swim meet.  My dogs are 12 and 7 and have no desire to 'play'.  After 4.5 hours of him barking and pouncing on my dogs, I took him home until his owners came back.  Once we got to his house, he went to sleep right away.  

No that is not him sleeping, that is him taking a break from the barking and pouncing.  He really  is a cute dog and I do adore him.  My dogs do not adore him though.  We will continue to have him come over.  Just not for long periods of time, until he learns not to pounce on my babies.

On the way to take the Grand puppy home  I spotted this:

That cheered me up and made my day a bit brighter.  We have had quite a bit of rain this week and it was much needed.  In total we got 2 inches of rain.  It has cooled us off to the point, we don't mind being outside during the day.  I know you all think 90 is hot, but remember, we really don't have much humidity in our air, so 90 is quite comfortable for us.

OK, I have pretty much told you everything that has happened this week.  Hubby returns home this afternoon.  I have some errands to run this morning, a pork tenderloin to marinated, a loaf a bread to make and of course, knitting to be worked on.

Until Next Time.................Happy Crafting!!!!!!!!!!!